Thoughts on prayer

This article that I read on this blog got me thinking about prayer.

An old theist friend of mine explained prayers to me this way. You can pray to God to provide you with whatever you want but you still have to go out and get it. He will provide guidance, show you clues, or whatever. But you still need to go out and do the work. No one is going to knock on your door and say "God sent me. Here's a sweet job and food for your kids" you still need to work at it.

As the fairy tale goes, God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden. No longer in paradise, they had to work and toil to survive. Your Magic Sky God will not hand you anything.
Praying to God so he can give you everything you want while you sit on your ass is just laziness.
I'm no theologian, but it seems pretty obvious to me.

Thoughts on a sunday

I'm going to assume most atheists, agnostics and various anti theists still celebrate Xmas in some fashion. I do. I wonder if there are any who don't or won't have anything to do with the holiday season because of it's religious ties. I've been able to separate this season from any religious connotations. It's just a holiday for me. A time to share with family, exchange presents with loved ones, and eat delicious baking. I have no problem with people calling it Christmas. It doesn't offend me and my secular values. If they want to bring baby Jesus into their home, that's fine with me. Just don't get upset when I would rather watch Die Hard on Christmas Eve then the Ten Commandments.

Birthday Thoughts

It was my birthday last week. I received more birthday greetings on Facebook then birthday cards. I got cards. Last year I received about 10. Is this a product of our email happy/ let's just announce everything on Facebook society?

I'm going to say yes.

Last year a friend of mine lost her husband overseas in Iraq. Almost overnight a Facebook page was built and it had 5000 + "friends". I'm willing to bet less then 1/2 of 1% of those people sent a card or flowers to the widow. Most wrote a quick condolence on her wall and probably thought they did a good thing.

I live in another part of the country so I was unable to attend the funeral service but I did send a card and mad a donation to a Veterans Charity the widow suggested.

I think it's a sad statement about society today that we can only bring ourselves to write a quick greeting on a website rather then pick up a phone and talk to someone.

Maybe I'm old fashioned